Gran fights off carjacker in Edinburgh

A HAVE-A-GO gran fought off a would-be carjacker who threatened to stab her husband.

The 66-year-old ran screaming from her house after the tattooed yob pushed her 71-year-old husband to the ground.

He then jumped into the couple’s Volkswagen Golf, parked on their driveway in Abbeyhill, but could not get it into reverse.

The woman – who has asked not to be named – pulled open the driver’s door and grabbed him by the hair and shoulder.

The retired bookbinder said: “I was in the house and on the phone to my daughter at the time. But I was watching out of the window. I was a bit wary as prior this an older man had approached my husband to tell him how much he liked his car, which seemed odd. I didn’t like the look of this second man.

“I couldn’t hear what was being said but I could tell they were arguing about something.

“Then suddenly, this brute jumped on my husband’s back and slammed him to the ground. My heart was racing and I was screaming my head off, yelling, ‘help, help, somebody please help’.”

Her husband was flat on his back, while the man was already in the car, pushing and pulling at the gear lever.

She said: “I yanked open the driver’s door and went for him. I had a fistful of his hair in one hand as I grabbed him by the shoulder with the other hand.

“I was fighting with all my might to drag him out of the car. And as I did so he was still ramming at the gear lever and trying to shut the door.

“Then the car started moving and he was still slamming the door, repeatedly, and it whacked the side of my face and my leg was trapped, but I didn’t let go while all the while still screaming for neighbours, anyone, to help us.”

The struggle ended when the thief reversed into a post at the end of the driveway.

She said: “He just got out of the car, scowled, and walked away. He didn’t run, he just walked. I was shaking.”

The couple did not require hospital treatment but both suffered severe bruising following the incident in Stanley Place, Abbeyhill, on Friday afternoon.

Her husband, a retired telephone engineer, was left disabled after he was hit by a car in 1980. He told how the thug had approached him while he was washing the car windows.

“First he said, I’ll give you £50 for your car’. I laughed, told him ‘This is a £28,000 car. It’s only got 1100 on the clock’.

“Then he demanded I give him the keys. He said he just wanted to sit in the car. Again, I said no. Then he said ‘Give me the keys or I’ll stab you’. I refused, that’s when he turned.

“All of a sudden, as I turned to face the car again, he jumped on my back and forced me to the ground.”

Police said the suspect was white, in his late 20s or early 30s, around 6ft with dark curly hair and dark stubble.

He was wearing dark jogging trousers, a dark t-shirt with writing across the chest and a tattoo on his left forearm of a name in “old style” writing.

Detective Inspector Paul Grainger said: “This was a very frightening ordeal for the elderly victim and his wife.”